The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said that obstacles towards the beginning of 2024 could pose challenges towards a potential decline in inflation, with the organisation calling on the Government to reconsider further costs for retail businesses.
Shop price annual inflation for the month of December was 4.3 per cent, which was less than the three-month average rate of 4.6 per cent.
Food inflation declined more sharply than non-food inflation, which increased to 3.1 per cent in December from 2.5 per cent in the previous month. Non-food inflation seemed to be suffering.
Even though inflation was at its lowest level since September 2022, this nevertheless above the three-month average rate of 3 per cent.
“Retailers will continue to do all they can to keep prices down in 2024, but there are obstacles on the road ahead. New border checks for EU imports, hundreds of millions more on business rates bills from April,” said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC.
She added by saying that Before putting new taxes on retail enterprises, the Government has to give it some serious thought. Doing so would increase expenses for low-income consumers and deter important investment in local communities.
